Powerpal Interview and Visit

Powerpal Interview

We made contact with PowerPal, a micro-hydro equipment company that consults and sells micro-hydro equipment to poor, rural communities all over the world that want electricity. Although we had some trouble understanding our guides, I was touched by their hospitality. David Seymour runs the company from his home in Victoria, Canada. Bang, our host in Vietnam, does the processing and shipping of products.

At the factory, making modifications

Looking back on it now, I enjoyed visiting the company immensely. I learned that micro-hydro power is very cheap. Size does matter. In the northwest, we are used to seeing huge damns that collect silt and disrupt salmon migrations, but these problems can mostly be avoided with micro-hydro systems. Below is a transcript of my interview with David Seymour about PowerPal.

This experience was incredibly educational and I wish the company the best of luck.

Low head turbine able to power 3-4 rural homes for about $200!

1. How did PowerPal develop over the years? What are its guiding principles? 

It developed along very unusual lines as the guiding principles were to help bring some cheap electric power to the residents of less developed countries, but that potentially huge market has proved almost unattainable as these people just do not have the resources available to purchase any micro-hydro products except in northern Vietnam where very cheap and unreliable Chinese-made turbines are smuggled across the border - see photos.

2. How has the micro-hydro market changed over the years?

It hasn't changed all that much over the past 15 years except for the arrival of better-made Chinese micro-hydro products in quite large numbers. The sector of the renewable energy market remains the least appreciated and most under-utilized of all the various types of renewable energy, in spite of its low cost and 24/7 productivity.

  

3. What are some of PowerPal's biggest challenges? Its limitations?

The biggest challenge comes form the Chinese suppliers who try their best to undercut our products in price with their mass production capabilities.

Limitations are due largely to the range of products our Hanoi suppliers can manufacture and the public's general lack of appreciation for the benefits of micro-hydro compared to solar, wind, biomass, etc.  

4. Can you tell us some specific successful examples of a PowerPal project?

Perhaps the best example is the Tanzanian case study I mentioned in an email earlier. Basically, a coffee plantation meets all of its electricity needs through several micro-hydro projects installed on mountain streams. The installation of equipment and maintenance is very cheap. It provides electricity for more of a successful business on the plantation, providing jobs and raising livelihoods.

Bang, our host, showing Sasha around the equipment

5. Is PowerPal solely focused on just micro hydro? Have ever thought of tackling bigger projects? Or specializing further?

No, we have stuck with micro-hydro since day-one and do not have the resources to compete with established turbine makers in larger projects.

So we stay with our niche market. 

6. Being from the Pacific Northwest, I've always been aware of the relatively clean and cheap energy that hydro-power provides. However, it doesn't escape controversy. Many ecologists are now saying that dams are having a disastrous on fish population and silt levels. Will micro hydro-power have the same effects in Asia?

No, micro-hydro projects are of such a small scale that there is virtually no risk of the any damage to the local ecology, quite the reverse, in fact, because it is such a clean type of energy that harnesses the energy of running water and then puts it right back into the water course. The fish habitat is not harmed at all. 

Another low head turbine

7. Can you briefly explain how your business model works?

Pretty simple, really. Our website brings all manner of inquiries and opens up new markets along the way - and we service these markets/customers by supplying Vietnamese-made turbines that we buy from the two Government enterprises at a price, then add a very modest margin to cover our costs, and leave room for the occasional token profit. We keep the prices lowest for the less developed countries, and then a little higher for more developed economies, like North America and Europe. So we are, in essence, a de facto marketing company for the two Vietnamese enterprises.

8. Has it been difficult to compete as most as Asian economies have been investing heavily in large electric infrastructural projects?

Yes, it has become more difficult in the micro-hydro sector because of the emergence of many Chinese suppliers. Grid electricity is still a rarity outside of the main towns and cities.

9. Do you feel your products are limited to the poorest, developing countries due to its cheap price and lack of infrastructure in these places?

No, not at all. In fact, the market in the LDCs is huge, but their buying power is very limited. So we have done quite well in Europe where the cost of electricity is so high. That is the reason they are such good markets, unlike Canada, for example.

Picture taken from a project in the highlands of Vietnam

10. Are there any examples you know of where PowerPal has helped rural communities generate income/ alleviate poverty through micro-hydro?

Not really, because the small PowerPal models are used by individual family units, rather than communities, but they do improve the lifestyle of these family units by having light at night for the children to study, do their homework, and to power small radios and TVs so that they know what is going on in the outside world.

I would really appreciate you giving these questions a look through. I look forward to hearing from you and again I really appreciate your earnest knowledge about the subject. 

Thanks again,

Ted

That's about it for now.

I hope some of the above is of a little help to you.

Best regards,

          David